Ugly Christmas Sweater Day
How Colin Firth made the ugly Christmas sweater a cult object
Actor Colin Firth made the Christmas sweater famous in the film Bridget Jones. Ugly Christmas Sweater Day now takes place on every third Friday in December. Many then show up in bizarre sweaters. A trend that celebrities are also jumping on.
It’s one of the weirdest scenes from “Bridget Jones – Chocolate for Breakfast”: He wears it to his parents’ Christmas reception snobbish-stuffy lawyer Mark Darcy a sweater with a goofy-looking reindeer on it. You know straight away – mom knitted it! The comedy not only made actor Colin Firth famous as Mark Darcy in 2001, but also the Christmas sweater, which nestled in the audience’s memory like no other piece of clothing in film history.
It’s time again for the question: Who has the ugliest Christmas sweater?
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“We made a lot of designs, it just had to fit right,” said “Bridget Jones” director Sharon Maguire years later about the reindeer sweater. Her team looked for the greatest possible contrast to that varnished Saying something ridiculous to Darcy. “Neither snowmen nor Christmas trees looked as good as this reindeer.”
What the film team couldn’t have foreseen at the time: the pretty-ugly sweater achieved cult status and sparked a real hype about weird-looking Christmas sweaters. From then on, not only reindeer were emblazoned on it, but also funny flashing deer and portly Santa Claus. The name Ugly Christmas Sweater was born.
David Beckham also loves Christmas sweaters
Since then you’ve seen the sweaters everywhere. At the Christmas party in the company, at a celebration with the family, on television – and on social media when stars try to show humor. Like the US actor Ryan Reynolds, who often appeared in a green sweater with a gold bow. Or Robbie Williams in a red knit with small Christmas trees. David Beckham has also often been seen wearing an ugly sweater: his model, which says “Spiceworld” in large letters, comes from the Spice Girls’ online shop. And the Ugly Sweater was even part of the program on the US talk show “The Tonight Show” last December: For the game “12 Days of Christmas Sweater,” presenter Jimmy Fallon raffled off particularly flashy models among his studio guests.
The Christmas sweater is also celebrated in Germany. One person in particular stands out: Markus Söder. The Bavarian Prime Minister, who also dresses up as Kaspar at Carnival, likes to dress up in a Christmas sweater on Advent Sundays. In 2022, he discovered how effective such an appearance on social media can be. At that time, for the fourth Advent, he appeared in a red sweater with a reindeer, which differed from the Marc Darcy model almost only in the color. His video has been viewed over 20,000 times on Instagram alone liked.
It’s hardly surprising that Söder dug out the sweater again at the beginning of December this year. But the praising comments that attested to the CSU boss’s sustained awareness quickly fell silent when he staged himself in the new Christmas fumble a weekend later. As a carnivalist, Söder ultimately knows that you have to improve your outfits. So he slipped on a dark blue sweater with a Christmas tree emblazoned with the Star Wars quote “May the Force be with you” written in green letters. Söder spoke somewhat clumsily: “May the Christmas Force with you”.
Although Mark Darcy’s sweater from “Bridget Jones” boosted the hype around the sweater, similar models were already seen on US television in the 1960s, when singers like Val Doonican and Andy Williams appeared in Christmas shows. Sweaters with reindeer and snowflakes also appeared in the 80s, like in the video for “Last Christmas” by Wham!.
However, there is no special reason for celebrating “Ugly Christmas Sweater Day” today on the third Friday in December. Except perhaps that the day is supposed to boost sweater sales. They have long been found in all brands, whether made of acrylic wool at C&A or cashmere at Gucci.
But the idea of making the other person laugh with a flashing reindeer on their chest doesn’t appeal to everyone. For some, body kitsch is the epitome of bad taste. Fortunately, the Christmas season is limited to a few weeks. However, it comes back – every year.